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ARCHDIOCESE OF ATLANTA
The Georain Bulletin
*9 SERVING GEORGIA’S 71 NORTHERN COUNTIES
Vol. 9 No. 33
Thursday, September 30,1971
$5 per year
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Dear
Reader
By HARRY MURPHY
Evansville Bishop Francis
R. Shea saw one of his
beloved institutions being
attacked and he struck back.
Some say he overreacted
and he admits that perhaps he
did.
But he recouped in
admirable style.
It all started when
Raymond Andersen wrote in
his monthly column in THE
MESSAGE, the diocesan
newspaper, “Our overall
experience with transferring
our children into public
school has been good.
Needless to say, they’ll
continue in public schools.”
The good bishop then had
a letter read in all churches,
denouncing the column as
threatening to parents who
send their children to
parochial schools.
A barrage of for and
against letters followed and
Bishop Shea explained in the
newspaper that the column
displeased him as “an
unnecessary barrier to our
efforts to stem the erosion of
confidence in our school
system.
“When you love and
believe in something as I do
our Catholic schools, it is
disturbing to see them, at
least by implication,
dismissed as not very
important.”
But then the bishop saw
the other side of the coin,
too, the necessity of a free
flow of information and
ideas, as expressed by the
recent Vatican document on
communications.
“The surest way to stunt
your growth is to confine
your reading and your
listening exclusively to those
sources which you know
agree with you.
“I hereby invite him to
continue his column, if he
wishes to do so. It should be
understood that not
everything you read in THE
MESSAGE necessarily bears
the stamp of approval nor
assurance of agreement of the
publisher and staff of the
paper, nor should it.”
Although the bishop said
he doesn’t think he’s always
right and doesn’t insist that
everyone be pleased with
what he did, Andersen and I
are.
Andersen accepted the
bishop’s invitation and said
the response in support of his
right to express his views
convinced him the diocese
desires “a free Catholic
press.”
THE GEORGIA
BULLETIN carries on its
masthead on the editorial
page the slogan, “The
opinions contained in these
editorial columns are the free
expressions of free editors in
a free Catholic press.”
THE CLARION HERALD
of the New Orleans Diocese
tells its readers, “The
opinions expressed in these
editorial columns represent a
Catholic viewpoint - not
necessarily THE Catholic
viewpoint.”
The point of all this is that
the Church and Catholics
should be in pursuit of the
truth. All shades of opinions
are necessary to determine
where the elusive truth lies.
John Ruskin, an English
critic, essayist and social
reformer of the 1800’s spoke
of that search:
“Without seeking, truth cannot
be known at all. It can neither be
declared from pulpits, nor set
down in articles, nor in any wise
prepared and sold in packages
ready for use. Truth must he
ground for every man by himself
out of its husk, with such help as
he can get, indeed, but not
without stern labor of his own.”
HAIR TODAY - Father George W. Tribou, principal
of Catholic High School for boys, Little Rock
Arkansas, addresses some of the students. Father
Tribou has no discipline problem despite his strict
rules against long hair. (NC PHOTO)
Short Hair Back
At Catholic Hi
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (NC) — For a school with an
ironclad rule of accepting only short-haired students,
the 1971 yearbook at Catholic High School for Boys
in Little Rock records plenty of locks and not many
bare foreheads.
But the foreheads are coming clean again because
the school principal, Father George W. Tribou, has
announced his intention of being “more strict in this
matter than I was last year.”
It was last year that discussion about hair lengths
at the school resulted in a formal, one-page treatise
on the subject by Father Tribou. The statement
resulted in national headlines for the school-a school
where students were forced to give up their long
summer hair styles for the neat trim look Father
Tribou said he believes is most condusive to
classroom learning and to the development of an
individual’s personality.
“And, good heavens, no beards,” the priest told
NC News in an interview.
When Father Tribou repeated this year that too
much hair was showing at the school, television
cameras and reporters once again were on the scene
recording, in some cases, a sad student’s forced loss of
locks in the barber chair.
Expressing dismay and amazement that some of
the news media depicted him as some “19th-century
dictator” with hair-trimming scissors in hand, Father
Tribou said Little Rock’s Catholic High School for
Boys is noted for a great deal more than the neat,
straight appearance of its students.
“Whatever it is we’ve got, it works,” he added. “If
the boys were not alive and content in this system we
would not be tops in the state in scholarships, nor
would we be first in baseball, second in football and
first in the nation in Marine ROTC out of 38 schools
with such units.”
“There is very little griping here; the boys are
happy,” the priest said. He said one public school
principal summed up the situation of the school when
he told him: “Father, your kids are different from
ours. . . and the biggest differences is that yours
smile.”
The priest noted proudly that, at a time when
many Catholic schools across the nation are forced to
shut down because of financial problems, his school
continues to be able to charge a low tuition~$31 a
month for Catholics and $55 a month for the 20
percent of students who are not Catholic. Part of the
reason tuition remains low, he explained, is because
of the tremendous community and individual support
the school receives.
“We’re probably one of the few Catholic high
schools in the country with an endowment fund,” he
added.
“Kids won’t cooperate with policies they don’t
approve of,” the priest said of his disciplinary
reputation, which is reinforced by a sign in his office
that reads: “Remember Who’s boss.”
One of the priest’s long-standing policies-in
addition to his right to use a punishment paddle
occasionally-is that, as long as sideburns are on, boys
are out of classes at his school.
No arguments in favor of long hair carry weight
with the priest, who insists that long hair is neither
healthy for good eye contact with teachers or for
young men to worry about.
“It is not good for boys to be concerned about
“personal cuteness,’ ” Father Tribou wrote in his
statement on hair. “It should continue to be the
exclusive right of girls... I favor competition in
studies, competition in athletics, but I do not favor
competition in coiffure!”
Students cannot wear shorts, must wear shirts and
ties. “This is a school, not a pool,” Father Tribou
recently wrote to parents of new students.
The newly elected student body president, Charles
Schlumberger, an Episcopalian, admitted that while
many kids gripe about the hair policy, “from what I
know, there’s never been a student to leave Catholic
High because he had to get a haircut. It’s just not
worth it.”
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Justice Importance
Higher Than Solving
Priesthood Problems?
By Father Leo E. McFadden
ROME (NC) — Delegates to the 1971 Synod of Bishops will hear that the
attainment of world justice-even through radical means—is more important than
solving problems of the priesthood, according to sources who have evaluated over
200 documents from bishops’ conferences and priest associations.
The ministerial priesthood
and world justice are the twin
topics on the agenda for the
third worldwide synod
convoked by Pope Paul VI.
The first synod following
the Vatican Council was
convened in 1967. It studied
doctrinal perils and structural
reforms needed by the
Church.
The 1969 synod discussed
practical aspects of
collegiality, the shared
authority of the Pope with all
the bishops.
Synod 71 will not be
merely an ongoing study by
the Church for self-improve
ment. The two principal
subjects for this synod look
out mainly to the world in an
effort to improve it by being
of service to it.
The intense preparation
that has gone into Synod 71
on a worldwide basis has
included official and public
preparation by bishops’
conferences and priests’
associations.
In the plush new
surroundings of the synod
hall, located high above the
$6 million papal audience
hall, synod participants will
hear position papers that cry
for justice for the world’s
downtrodden.
A radical call for justice
runs through the official
documents of bishops’
conferences as disparate as
Brazil and Indonesia, or
Canada and Peru. In
summary, those document
state that action for justice is
a must for the Church of the
1970’s.
The documents say that if
the Church is to be a sign of
salvation for men, then the
Church must openly fight
institutionalized injustice.
Liberation, they say, is the
only solution. And by
liberation they mean
independence-social, political
and religious-for all people.
To achieve liberation, the
documents say, the Church
must be on the side of the
poor and oppressed and take
a firm stand against foreign
and domestic exploitation.
Documents emanating
mostly, but not exclusively,
from the Third World of
underdeveloped nations call
for a Church-backed
revolution-a non-violent
revolution, if possible, but
nevertheless a revolution.
“The Gospel cannot be
announced in a situation of
oppression,” the Peruvian
bishops’ document stresses.
“If the Church remains
aloof from the anguish of
men, it risks not being
worthy of them.
“Let the Church sustain
governments that aim at
constructing s Socialist
society, with a human and
Christian content . . . Let it
condemn the repressive
methods of governments that,
in the name of Christian
civilization, have recourse to
violence and torture.
“Let the Church recognize
the right of the oppressed to
fight for justice. Let it
express solidarity with their
ideals, even though it does
not always approve their
methods.”
Archbishop Hyacinthe
Thiandoum of Dakar,
Senegal, said in a recent
pastoral letter: “The interest
aroused by the Synod of
Bishops focuses more on the
subject of social justice that is
going to be debated than on
that of the ministerial
priesthood. Of course, the
importance of the latter
cannot be minimized.”
The problems of the
priesthood have not been
minimized in studies made by
representative bodies around
the world, although there is
not the unanimity found here
as in the call for justice.
For instance, the Dutch
bishops suggest that celibacy
should not be viewed as an
isolated problem, but
considered as only one
symptom of a much more
profound problem: Whither
goes the Church? On the
other hand, many
Third-World bishops insist
that thp question of celibacy
is not a problem for them.
Further, most Asian,
African and some Latin
American bishops want no
married men admitted to the
priesthood in their countries.
One European bishops’
conference, however, has
called for such a move “not
because of the shortage of
priests, but because we
suspect married men can
make a special contribution
to the priesthood.”
No organized group has
come forward yet, in this age
of contestation, to protest or
stage a counter-meeting to
the synod, as happened at the
European bishops’ meeting in
Church Switzerland, in 1968
and in Rome during the 1969
synod.
FR. HARDY RECEIVES CONGRATULATIONS
From Bp. Raymond Vonesch Of NCCB
Vocation Directors
Elect Father Hardy
Father Jerry Hardy, Assistant Chancellor and
Director of Vocations for the Archdiocese of Atlanta,
was elected President of the National Conference of
Diocesan Vocation Directors.
The election took place at
the eighth Annual
Convention held last week in
Denver. Father Hardy had
served for two years as
secretary of the national
group before his election to
the presidency.
At 32, Father Hardy is the
youngest president ever
elected by the national
membership.
Some 135 delegates, from
dioceses and archdioceses
OPERATION “EYE OPENER”
Archbishop Donnellan Addresses Northeast Deanery Meeting
across the nation, attended
the four day session, the
theme of which was “Service
to One Another”.
Commenting on the
convention, Father Hardy
said that it was the most
uplifting meeting he had
attended during the five years
of his association with the
group. “I felt there were
some real strong and hopeful
convictions shared about the
ministry and its future,” he
said.
Also elected to the
executive board were Rev.
Neal Dolan, vice-president,
from the Diocese of San
Diego, Rev. Michael Ryan,
secretary, from the Diocese
of Seattle, and Msgr. Edward
Thompson, treasurer, from
the Archdiocese of
Philadelphia.
Rev. Jack Kinsella from
the Archdiocese of Baltimore
was named executive
secretary by the executive
board. Father Ed Baldwin,
outgoing president remains as
active member of the
executive board.
This national group gives
the American bishops a
current reading of the
vocational situation in this
country and at the same time
provides for corporate action
in the vocations apostolate.
OPENS BRIGHTLY
Operation
“Eye Opener”
About 125 parishioners of parishes in the
Northeast Deanery were on hand for the first session
of Operation Eye Opener conducted by the
Archdiocesan Pastoral Council. The meeting was held
at Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish.
Those attending heard
Archbishop Thomas A.
Donnellan speak forcefully
about the whole Pastoral
Council project. “This is a
priority undertaking of the
whole church in this
Archdiocese, an effort by all
the People of God in North
Georgia”, the Archbishop
said. He expressed his
gratitude for the work done
by the Pastoral Council but
added “there must be a great
concern by all of us to do
what we can to take this
Pastoral Council Program
right to the grassroots of our
parishes. That is the only way
we can accomplish anything
significant in the cause of
poverty.”
The format of the evening
consisted of group sessions
with the resource personnel
on hand, Mr. Lyndon Wade,
Director Atlanta Urban
League, Mr. Jim Parham,
Director Ga. state Family and
Children’s Services, Miss
Emma Darnell, Intergovern-
mental Programs
Co-ordinator office of the
Mayor, Mr. Bob Weymer,
Director Atlanta Narcotics
Treatment Program. These
sessions were followed by the
concrete programs prepared
by the Council as responses
to the needs underlined by
the resource people. The
programs include practical
parish level implementations
for helping in areas of
domestic workers, day care,
rural food shortage, low
income housing and open
housing.
The first meeting will be
followed by Session Two at
which the programs will be
gone into more in detail by
the committees who prepared
them.
(Continued on page 7)
A reti f lshop s Office
756 West Peachtree Street, N. W.
Atlanta, Georgia 30308
My Brothers and Sisters in Christ:
For the present year, the priority among
Archdiocesan programs is being directed to the relief
of the causes of poverty. Every year, the Saint
Vincent de Paul in Atlanta has had as its priority the
love for the poor. This year is no exception.
May we commend to your generosity the annual
inner-city collection of the Saint Vincent de Paul.
The poor are always in need. Your gift is the measure
of the help that Saint Vincent de Paul can give.
Sincerely yours in Christ,
~h (J. <*•
Most Reverend Thomas A. Donnellan
Archbishop of Atlanta
(See Editorial Pg. 4)
imnaszeniy m nome
VATICAN CITY (NC) - Hungarian Cardinal Jozsef
Mindszenty, at the urging of Pope Paul VI, ended his 15 years of
self-exile within his own country and described his decision as
“perhaps the heaviest cross of my life.”
He reached Rome by air Sept. 28 from Vienna to be met by a
Vatican welcoming committee lead by the cardinal-secretary of
state, Jean Villot. From the airport the aging prelate was driven
to the Vatican for a warm and emotional embrace by Pope Paul
VI.